Clone Wars
The Clone Wars occasionally referred to as the Clone War or the Separatist War, was a three-year conflict that divided the galaxy in warfare between the Galactic Republic and the breakaway of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious engineered the war to enable the extermination of the Jedi Order and the rise of the Galactic Empire. Prior to the conflict, Sidious amassed political power in his alter ego of the Republic's Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, while his Sith apprentice, Count Dooku, sparked a Separatist Crisis that saw hundreds of Republic star systems flock to his nascent Confederacy. Dooku, a former Jedi Master, also secretly commissioned an army of clone troopers from Kamino to serve as soldiers for the Jedi and the Republic. The Clone Wars began at the Battle of Geonosis, in which Dooku and his Separatist Council pitted their Separatist Droid Army against the newly formed Grand Army of the Republic. Reluctantly, the Jedi accepted their roles as generals of the Grand Army. As battles between Republic clone troopers and Separatist battle droids engulfed countless worlds, heroes emerged on both sides. Among the well-known Jedi Generals were Yoda, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Anakin Skywalker, while the clone soldiers, for whom the conflict was named, displayed individuality and valor in their service to the Republic. Dooku, meanwhile, relied upon agents like General Grievous and Asajj Ventress throughout his military operations. Amidst the pan-galactic warfare, many planets—including Mandalore and other members of the Council of Neutral Systems—struggled to remain neutral, but found it difficult to escape from the carnage. Early on, the Republic and the Confederacy vied for control of the major hyperspace lanes, ending when Skywalker and his new Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, secured an alliance between the Republic and the Hutt Clan. The Separatists resorted to varied forms of warfare, developing weapons like the twin ion cannons of the battleship Malevolence and the Blue Shadow Virus to impair the Republic war machine. Worlds such as Ryloth, Felucia, Malastare, and even Kamino became flashpoints. Other key offensives included the Second Battle of Geonosis, which obliterated Geonosis's battle droid foundries; and a futile Jedi-led operation to capture Grievous at Saleucami. Over a year into the war, Republic Senator Padmé Amidala and Separatist Senator Mina Bonteri collaborated on an initiative to end the fighting, but Dooku and Grievous subverted their efforts by bombing the Republic capital of Coruscant. An ensuing peace conference on Mandalore similarly failed to gain traction. With no end in sight, the Jedi worked with local militaries like Mon Cala's military and Naboo's Gungan Grand Army, and even trained a rebel cell to retake Onderon. The Confederacy also relied on factions such as the Umbaran Militia, which waged the Battle of Umbara; and the Zygerrian Slave Empire, which enslaved the Togruta colony of Kiros. Furthermore, a proxy war materialized when Mother Talzin and her son, Darth Maul, strove to exact their revenge on the Sith and the Jedi. As the Jedi faced waning public support and even dissent within the Order, Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi unearthed Dooku's role in creating the Grand Army. By that point, however, the Jedi Order was too entrenched to escape from the morass of the Sith's machinations. The conflict's rising death toll even compelled the Jedi High Council to approve a plan to assassinate Dooku. Yet, Jedi Master Quinlan Vos and Asajj Ventress—Dooku's jilted apprentice—failed to execute him on several occasions. All the while, Sidious took advantage of the chaos to expand his power base. One of his major exploits was the Republic's acquisition of the InterGalactic Banking Clan. By the war's third and final year, the Republic drove the Separatists into redoubts within the Outer Rim Territories, initiating a campaign that was termed the Outer Rim Sieges. The Confederacy lost its core leadership in quick succession, since Dooku and Grievous perished at the Battles of Coruscant and Utapau, respectively. However, Sidious had begun his endgame. After evading arrest by Mace Windu and a cadre of Jedi, Sidious seduced Skywalker to the dark side of the Force and molded him into his new apprentice, Darth Vader. Sidious publicly branded the Jedi as traitors and triggered Order 66, which forced the Republic's clone troopers to execute their Jedi Generals, thereby starting a galaxy-wide Jedi Purge. After assaulting the Jedi Temple on Coruscan at this time the remaining CIS worlds declared the war a loss and decided to evacuate to the milkyway galaxy, but were prevented by the Republic, leading to the Solar System Campaign. Not long after the loss of Kashyyyk, Vader slew Viceroy Nute Gunray and the rest of the Separatist Council on Mustafar as Palpatine declared an end to the Clone Wars following the CIS's last defeat on Earth in the Solar System and transformed the Republic into the first Galactic Empire. ''Trivia *''The Earth Years in to the Clone War's Star Wars timeline was the years 22 BBY (2000), 21 BBY (2001), 20 BBY (2002) and 19 BBY (2003) Category:Clone Wars Category:22 BBY Category:21 BBY Category:20 BBY Category:19 BBY Category:Clone Wars Era